Hello VM Community!
We have been busy this winter! As physical therapists and athletic trainers, our ultimate goals are to prevent injuries from happening, and that is why this business was started. Through our community outreach, we have served over 100 athletes of all ages in the Blue Hill and Ellsworth communities and here is how:
Athletic Performance Testing:
We started this in October of last year at CrossFit Breakwater in Ellsworth! We designed a battery of testing for injury prevention and athletic potential by looking at asymmetries in the body. We had a total of 12 athletes perform the testing, we identified strengths and weaknesses and gave individualized responses based on that testing.
We have since done this twice more by partnering with DownEast Family YMCA, one at the Lawrence Center in Blue Hill Maine, and the other at the Moore Center in Ellsworth Maine. We had a total of 37 athletes participate in both of these clinics!
We are excited to expand our service areas from Blue Hill Maine, Ellsworth Maine, and are partnering with Destination Health in Bar Harbor coming in February!
Our goal is to provide these clinics in these same locations for our Ellsworth and Blue Hill communities and providing these same opportunities into Bar Harbor and Bucksport areas!
Athletic Training Services at local High Schools:
Our community outreach expands past single day clinics for all athletes. One of the most underserved populations in the country is actually teenagers! Did you know that most teenagers only see a healthcare provider for 4 minutes a YEAR on average?
So, to help solve this, we partnered with Sumner Memorial High School in Sullivan Maine and George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill Maine to provide athletic training services twice a month at no cost to the school or students.
So far, we have reached over 50 athletes this way with anywhere from shin splints to blisters to sprained thumbs. All of these athletes admitted they would have either gone untreated or they would have sought care at an emergency medicine clinic. Our estimations is we saved the Blue Hill and Ellsworth community over $10,000 of healthcare costs based on the number of imaging and follow up appointments that are unneeded. This is the value that athletic training can bring to your community.
Gym Class 101
As Physical Therapists and Athletic Trainers, we often try to get people back into a preventative and generally healthy workout routine. There are many benefits to going to a commercial gym, but one thing we have heard more than once in both our Ellsworth and Blue Hill clinics is;
"What do I wear".
If that is the main barrier that people have to get into the gym and thrive through movement, we decided to try and help. This where Gym Class 101 became conceived. So we designed a 4 class tutorial for people new to going into a public gym. We broke down what common commercial facility design is, what to wear at the gym, the types of machines and weights are in the gym, WHY you would choose one machine over another and how to program exercises based on their goals.
We are almost done with this class but look forward to hosting it again soon!
So that is all that we have been up to, plus our normal patient and client care in Blue Hill and Ellsworth! We want to say thank you to our Blue Hill and Ellsworth communities as they are truly inspiring us to keep providing a valuable and equitable service.
Check us out at www.variablemovement.com or give us a call in either location:
Blue Hill: 207-374-7228
Ellsworth: 207-669-2798
Inspiring to hear all the creative ways you are finding to serve community members in need and provide education on the true value of the diagnostic & rehabilitative tools you offer—including their place on the spectrum of available healthcare options.